Patuxent Friends Monthly Meeting was established in 1980 upon a strong current of Quaker Universalism. We, who are called Quakers or Friends, are members of the Religious Society of Friends. We believe God is present in every person. We have no formal creed, no ritual, dogma, nor liturgy. Instead, we gather in a circle of communal silence, creating a space where we listen attentively and expectantly for Divine guidance, both individually and corporately.

We strive to respond in love, rather than react in fear; we seek peace both inward and outward in our daily lives; we are led to implement our concerns for the equal rights of all. Many of us have been drawn to the Religious Society of Friends because of its dual commitment to Spiritual awareness and social action. We support each other on our continuing journey toward a more perfect understanding of the light of the Spirit shared by all.

We invite you to share this spiritual journey with us.
Please join us for worship at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays.
Your children are also welcome either at Meeting for Worship or First Day School.

Picture by Hugh Conway, taken February 7, 2010

Patuxent Friends Meeting sponsors the Community Mediation Centers ofSt. Mary'sandCalvertCounties, which assist Southern Maryland residents, organizations and businesses by providing alternative dispute resolution services. The Centers provide an opportunity to manage conflicts differently. With the help of trained volunteer mediators, participants can discuss issues and talk about their concerns. In mediation, the participants—not the mediator—control the decisions and the outcome.

For more information on Quakerism and Quaker organizations (American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), etc.) go to www.quaker.org.

Picture by Hugh Conway, Spring 2010

Some Friends say there is

That of God in everyone,

Which must include me.

Peter Rabenold, 1997

Letter to the editors of Southern Maryland Newspapers (Sept 2015) with concern for racial unease on occasion of International Day of Peace:

In recent years, our attention has been drawn repeatedly to the racial unease that still afflicts American society. And, always, we hear calls for peace in response to those tragic killings that draw our attention to racial conflict. Indeed, if such peace were possible, the killings would not be.

However, peace cannot be summoned at will. Peace is not the same thing as “the absence of violence.” Even if hostility can be contained and kept from erupting into actual violence, that hostility seeps through in ways that are insidious and nearly invisible. It lingers in the distance we keep from each other, the avoidance of responsibility for actions that cause mistrust, the unfair practices of private and public institutions, and the denial that class and race are necessarily intertwined, given this nation’s history.

No, peace cannot be summoned at will. It must be consciously nurtured. It emerges out of close attention to the feelings of others, out of adopting the well-being of the other as our own, out of mindfulness of the weakness in our system of justice that allow the personal prejudice of some to represent the intention of all.

We Friends (Quakers) call on all seekers after peace to spend time in personal and communal reflection, time in active advocacy, and time in reaching out to those of other races in fellowship. Out of these actions we may arrive at peace.